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I know I'm not alone here but the baseball writers are kind writing off the cubs already. The main reason for this is they are not doing there homework on the team as a whole. Besides only talking about "Dice-k" and the Yankees, they only talk about Soriano, Prior, Wood and hey thats about it. They never mention the rotation battle and a very solid bullpen. Or the fact that on paper (it is what it is, the only thing to go on besides ST) they are the best team in the NL. Period. Mets. No starting pitching, good lineup. Dodgers. The total opposite, good pitching, not the best lineup. Brewers. The real dark horse, I'm not going to lie, with Sheets healthy, that team scares me. I know, I know, they are the Brewers but they are pretty well rounded with Cordero closing, good rotation and avg lineup. The Phillies have top to bottom the best lineup in the NL, they picked up Freddy Garcia and have a great young pitcher in Cole Hamels in the rotation. The Astros are not a contender this year but with Oswalt, Jennings and Woddy Williams in the rotation, and a above avg lineup, they will get some wins.The Cubs have 6 MLB proven starters, 3 guys who could each hit 40 to 50 home runs and some good contact hitters in DeRosa, Izturis, Barret and (my favorite) Theriot. Top that off with a well above avg bullpen, you got a winner. Also, Lou is looked over, most writers look at it as going from a great manager to a great manager. This is wrong. Lou will drive this team just watch. Dusty would lay back and give advice. Lou will make players work on weaknesses as well as their strength's. I just hope most of us are looking at our opposition as well as our team.

On Baseball This Morning on XM Ken Rosenthal writer for FoxSports says the Cubs are a serious looking team. But he did say he does not see the new pieces fitting that well together. I hope he is hungry because he has a huge helping of crow coming his way in October!

Good post. I would rather have the Cubs sneak out of nowhere and surprise all of these sportswriters! I'm seeing the chemistry build on this team. Look at our lineup! In 12 games, this team has scored 81 runs! That is an average of 7 runs a game! Sure, like all of the other teams, we have a couple of questions, but these are questions that can and will be addressed. And,if something is not working down the road, we have the depth to try something different to make it work. It also helps that our division is fairly weak this year. I do have to agree that the Brewers are a team to be feared this year, but so are the Cubs. How many times have we heard Dan Pleasac say in the last week about our hitters that they are in "midseason form" at the plate? Even Ramirez! Now, the true test is can our offense stay this hot in the cold Windy Chicago air during April? No matter what...I say that in 2007... we are really a contender this year!

Most of the baseball writers do not know what they say. They thought Florida would get destroyed in the national championship against Ohio State and look what happened. More times than not they are wrong.

[quote=ryno4ever;12339]Good post. I would rather have the Cubs sneak out of nowhere and surprise all of these sportswriters! I'm seeing the chemistry build on this team. Look at our lineup!

Thanks. I agree, we are the true contenders. Its ours to lose. But that said the central is not as weak as everyone says. True its not like the AL east but its not like the NL west of 2005. The central IMO is going to be a hard division to go wire-to-wire without falling to second for 1 or 2 games. No, Its gonna be a little different than the typical seasons of past. I'm telling you, the Brewers (With Sheets 100%) are going to be a hard team every time we face them. Earlier in the off-season I thought the Brewers were of no concern but if you look at them neutrally, they have a good team. The only problem with the Brewers (besides Sheets health) is their manager Ned Yost is IMO a weak manager but I might be totally wrong. Then if you look outside the central, the Phillies have a very good team. Look at the way the Dodgers are configured, really good SP and a speedy, contact hitting lineup suited well for that ballpark. In the end these are my picks for the playoffs (I know,really safe picks lol)

These picks will only happen if all of the teams key players stay healthy. But our Cubs have the edge, most depth. Very good, experienced bullpen, experienced bench (for the most part), veteran lineup with good young guys to get some innings and a very good, inning eating rotation (We can only hope ).

Most of the baseball writers do not know what they say. They thought Florida would get destroyed in the national championship against Ohio State and look what happened. More times than not they are wrong.

I agree 100%. Glorified fans in suits on Eastern Sports Propaganda Network (god I love that, fits so well ).

I agree for the most part. Except I think the Diamondbacks have a great shot at taking the west. They have a lot of young talent and good pitching. I think the Phillies win the east and the Mets the wildcard. I just do not see a wildcard coming form our division. The division is so tight up and down with everyone beating up on each other.